How Does Hardy Present Bathsheba In ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’?
English GSCE Coursework:
How does Hardy present Bathsheba in 'Far From the Madding Crowd'? Explain how she changes in the course of the novel (considering where possible and relevant Hardy's view of women as you become aware of it.)
Thomas Hardy portrays Bathsheba at the start of "Far from the Madding Crowd" as an individual, independent and spirited young woman. I think Hardy admires her character as it is made quite clear throughout the novel that she is far from being a conventional woman of the day, and there is much to admire and like in her. However, as the novel progresses we become aware that Hardy has many chauvinistic ideas about women as a whole and makes some rather sweeping generalisations about the entire race of womankind. Despite Bathsheba's unconventiality in some respects and the fact that Hardy actually says she is unlike women as a whole, Hardy has instilled in her many attributes and character faults which he considers to be exclusively women's, or at least extremely common among women, and as a result Bathsheba's character can be very contradictory.
From her very first appearance we are given a first impression of Bathsheba's character and a foresight into the effect she will have upon the characters of the book. She is described as "young and attractive" and is wearing red, a colour suggestive of danger and excitement. She attempts to assert her independence by refusing to pay the keeper of the toll gate two pence more, yet when Oak, in a gentlemanly act of kindness, pays for her, she snubs him because "in gaining her a passage he had lost her point". Here is one of the first examples we come across in the novel of Hardy adding to Bathsheba's character faults belonging to a 'typical woman'. Hardy says of Bathsheba's behaviour in this situation, "we all know how women take a favour of this kind", implying that women are ungrateful when they feel they have not gotten their way. We also learn in this scene that supposedly like all women, Bathsheba is extremely vain, furtively looking at herself in a mirror for no other reason than to look. Hardy claims this is "women's prescriptive infirmity". However, though Bathsheba is vain, she is not immodest and we learn that if she were forced to wear a low-necked dress she would "run and thrust her head into a bush".
We are treated to a glimpse of Bathsheba's unconventionality when we see her not only riding to Casterbridge like a man but "dexterously dropping backwards flat upon the pony's back" in a most novel position for anyone, let alone a woman, to be in. This shows her courage and confidence as well as her skill on horseback. I think this also shows Bathsheba's very joy for life at this point in the novel. She seems happy and carefree and content with her life and herself.
At Bathsheba and Oak's first proper meeting, she remains cool and calm, "it was the man who blushed, the maid not at all." She is evidently in control of the situation. We are given a further impression of her being far from the stereotypical weak and helpless heroine when she saves Oak from suffocation in his hut. This shows some presence of mind on her part, yet the fact that Hardy has her lose her head and throw warm milk at him somewhat detracts from the idea of the level-headed woman coming along and saving the day. Yet again she is the confident one in the conversation, and she is even slightly flirtatious towards Oak and seems very light hearted and unwilling to talk seriously.
On several occasions throughout the novel Hardy impresses upon us that Bathsheba can be extremely contrary. In her meetings with Oak, he unwittingly invokes her wrath by naively saying just what he is thinking. On one occasion he says honestly that he hadn't thought of kissing her hand, and on another that as she mentions it he had thought that maybe he should marry a rich woman, not Bathsheba. These frank admissions of Oak's pique Bathsheba's vanity somewhat, even though in the latter example it was exactly what she had suggested herself. When Oak comes to propose, Bathsheba shows characteristic impetuosity in running after him simply to tell him she is not seeing any other men. She is thoughtless as to his feelings, not considering that she might raise his hopes falsely by chasing after him like this; she is simply governed by her impulses, however thoughtless and foolish they may be. She is naive about love and marriage, and again showing no sensitivity for Oak's feelings, refuses him outright in her own blunt and scrupulously honest manner, with comments such as "'tis no use, I don't want to marry you." Despite her obvious lack of respect for Oak's feelings, I find her comments rather endearing in this situation, as she and Oak are both so very honest, yet naive and innocent about love.
Bathsheba is tempted at first by the idea of having a wedding and having people talk about her marriage, and thoughts of setting up house, which are really quite materialistic incentives, yet when Oak gets to suggestions of "babies" and the two of them always looking up and seeing the other there, she does not like the sound of it at all. She is clearly not the sort of girl who "accept husbands because marriage is not possible without men", that is, the sort of woman who is bent on getting married. The idea of a wedding does ...
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Bathsheba is tempted at first by the idea of having a wedding and having people talk about her marriage, and thoughts of setting up house, which are really quite materialistic incentives, yet when Oak gets to suggestions of "babies" and the two of them always looking up and seeing the other there, she does not like the sound of it at all. She is clearly not the sort of girl who "accept husbands because marriage is not possible without men", that is, the sort of woman who is bent on getting married. The idea of a wedding does appeal to her, but not "marriage as an abstract" and definitely not the thought of having a husband constantly there. Her desire for a big, fancy wedding but her dislike of the mundane aspects of marriage contrasts with the very end of the book, when she just wants to marry Oak in as quietly and with as little fuss as possible. This shows how the materialistic side of her, which cares what everyone thinks and says about her, disappears as the novel progresses and she has other, more important things to worry about. I think her problems give Bathsheba a sense of perspective, and I think she matures under the onslaught of her numerous troubles.
When Bathsheba's uncle dies, she is left his farm and takes over the running of it. She makes clear to her new employees in a rousing, spirited speech that she intends to do it properly despite the fact that she is a woman, "Don't suppose that because I'm a woman I don't understand the difference between bad goings on and good... in short I shall astonish you all." She is described as "supervising and cool" and Hardy says in praise of her, "some women only require an emergency to make them fit for one." She even takes on the job of bailiff herself. taking responsibility for the running of the farm onto herself. Bathsheba is also not afraid of hard work and goes to work alongside her employees at lambing time. When she visits the corn market she is the only woman there and it must be very intimidating for her, "requiring far more determination than she had first imagined." However, she holds her own fairly well, and as Hardy puts it, "strange to say of a female in full bloom and vigour, she always allowed her interlocutors to finish their statements before rejoining with hers". Basically Hardy is implying that unlike most women, Bathsheba does not interrupt people. Despite Bathsheba's determination to achieve success as a farmer in her own right, we gain an insight into the general view of the times in a snippet of conversation, "she'll soon get picked up". People expected a young woman, especially a beautiful property owning one like Bathsheba, to get married, though it is clear from what we know of her that this is not one of Bathsheba's main aims in life and in this she defies convention yet again.
Yet despite the favourable impression we have of Bathsheba's independence and courage, Hardy also feels he has to mention yet another fault she has in common with the rest of womankind, again based on vanity. Bathsheba refuses to answer the door to Mr Boldwood because she is in a mess from dusting and gets quite flustered, "fluttering under the onset of a crowd of romantic possibilities". This is very silly behaviour and Hardy explains it as such: "A woman's dress being a part of her countenance and any disorder in the one being of the same nature with a malformation or wound in the other." Bathsheba also becomes irritable with little Teddy Coggan because he tells Mr Boldwood she is old.
Despite Bathsheba's triumph at the corn exchange, she cannot help but notice (for of course, as Hardy puts it, "women have eyes in their ribbons for matters such as these") that there is one man who does not notice her as the other farmers do. The fact that Farmer Boldwood pays her no attention, only serves to excite her curiosity in him. She is somewhat nettled that he is completely indifferent to her very existence, and it is this that tempts her to send him a Valentine's card. This rash act, done "idly and unreflectingly" is another example of her light-hearted, thoughtless approach to life at the start of the novel. She gives no thought to Boldwood's feelings and cannot possibly imagine what a "hotbed of tropic intensity" she is igniting in him. For Bathsheba "was no schemer for marriage, nor was she deliberately a trifler with the affections of men", yet however unconsciously she does it, she sets off a chain reaction in Boldwood by this one foolish action that will have dire consequences in the future.
When Bathsheba discovers Boldwood's feelings for her, she feels responsible and sorry for the hurt she must cause, and it is "somewhat to her credit" that she feels her guilt in leading Boldwood on, albeit unwittingly. I think this is the reason why she treats his proposal with more sensitivity than she did Oak's, choosing the words of her refusal carefully. She also sees the very intensity of his emotions, realises she is out of her depth, and has wisdom enough to be careful of his feelings. Feeling as she does earlier in the novel that Oak is "not quite good enough" for her, it is not hard to refuse him bluntly and honestly, yet she is intimidated and overwhelmed by the dignified Boldwood baring his very soul to her with a passion few thought him capable of. Bathsheba is "frightened as well as agitated at his vehemence" and she is influenced by guilt into not entirely refusing him. When Boldwood comes to propose again Bathsheba finds it impossible to say no to him. Her cheeks "had lost a great deal of their healthful fire" and she speaks in a "trembling voice quite unlike her usual self confidence." Bathsheba's strength of character and will cannot stand up to Boldwood's pressure, and her resolve simply buckles under the pressure of his demands and the sympathy and guilt she feels for inflicting this upon him.
An incident which does not reflect well upon Bathsheba's character is her argument with Gabriel Oak when he attempts to lecture her about her treatment of Boldwood. Her temper gets the better of her when he reprimands her for leading Boldwood on and, pettily, she fires him for it. In this situation it is he who is calm and in control whereas she acts childishly, petulantly even. When her sheep are dying and the only one who can have them is Oak, she stubbornly declares, "never will I send for him - never!" and as if to punctuate the remark a ewe promptly leaps dramatically into the air nearby and falls down dead. The situation is amusing in its very absurdity. Bathsheba is forced to relent and sends for Oak, who unfortunately for Bathsheba chooses also to be stubborn and demand a proper, civil request. Bathsheba, annoyed, refuses to beg, and no sooner has she made the proud remark another ewe "sprang into the air, and fell dead." In the end Bathsheba swallows her pride and resorts to pleading with Oak, "Gabriel, do not desert me!" and although she does feel some scruples at her blatant manipulation of him, she does it anyway for the sake of the sheep.
The next man to enter Bathsheba's life is one Sergeant Francis Troy. He has a great effect on Bathsheba right from their first meeting in the fir plantation at night. His sudden appearance, "brilliant in brass and scarlet... was to darkness what the sound of the trumpet is to silence." His profuse and exaggerated flattery on top of his handsome countenance and gallant demeanour mean he has a marked effect on Bathsheba. Though she is aware to a point that he may not be entirely sincere, she is completely overwhelmed by his extensive flattery and is torn between indignation at his forwardness and the desire to hear more. Troy unsettles her from their first meeting by his assured and engaging manner, and she is bewildered at his sudden and extreme attachment to her, though she does not quite know why. Troy is "altogether too much for her" and she is now mastered, "powerless to withstand or deny him." Troy has 'swept her off her feet' and soon she loves him deeply, "in the way only self reliant women love when they abandon their self reliance." Her love is "entire as a child's, and though warm as summer, fresh as spring." She completely abandons herself to it without thinking of the consequences. She really has abandoned her self-reliance and she is truly "dazzled by brass and scarlet". Her feelings make her unpredictable and agitated. Hardy says of Bathsheba that "she had too much womanliness to use her understanding to the best advantage." He is saying that Bathsheba loses her head and forgets all sense and reason in her love for Troy just because she is a woman. I do not agree with this at all, as Boldwood lost his head and fell completely for Bathsheba in a similar way. I think Bathsheba's head is turned by Troy's dashing appearance and his compliments which feed her vanity, and she abandoned herself so utterly to her feelings partly to escape from the reality of the unwanted situation with Boldwood, and partly because it is her first experience of love so she has never been disillusioned about love. Despite the fact that Bathsheba is a strong character, in talking to Boldwood, "she begins to feel unmistakeable signs that she was inherently the weaker vessel" of the two.
In typical impulsive Bathsheba fashion, she goes out to break things off with Troy, riding bareback in the middle of the night. However, though her intentions are good, when she gets there she cannot keep to her resolution and "between jealousy and distraction" she marries him instead. However, this is another of the rash acts Bathsheba comes to regret later. Troy has a dominant personality and when they have been married for a while, Bathsheba is tamed and subdued; she is "listless" and has "lost all her former pluck and sauciness". The man she loves is quite different from how she imagined him. He gambles away her money at the races, he does not look after the farm properly, and what is more his previous passion for her dies and now he treats her with near contempt because she is tamed.
When Bathsheba and Oak save the ricks from the storm together, we see her bravery and optimism in helping him though it is dangerous and despite Troy's mastery of her she is still described as "the most venturesome woman in the parish." However, she trembles and exclaims at the storm, which detracts from the general image of her being still strong.
When Troy, whom she still loves, rejects her utterly in favour of the dead Fanny, Bathsheba, "lonely and miserable now", reproaches her husband and complains miserably. She is in despair, all her self-esteem gone as she cries out "I can't help being ugly!" She has lost her self control and dignity and pleads desperately with Troy, but to no avail. She lets out a "wail of anguish". Troy "could hardly believe her to he his proud wife Bathsheba." It was a revelation to Troy of "all women being alike at heart, even those so different as Fanny and this one beside him"! What I think Hardy is saying by this is that deep inside all women are weak and needy like Fanny. Bathsheba's voice is described as "quite that of another woman now" so much is she changed by her troubles. In fact, Bathsheba's own strength is not enough for her now, and "she suddenly felt a longing desire to some one stronger than herself." She goes to see Oak, of course, and though she does not speak to him she follows his example and prays.
Yet in the midst of her despair, Bathsheba can still find solace in nature and "with a freshened existence and a cooler brain" she awakes outside to the dawn. Even though she has completely lost faith in love and warns Liddy against it, she won't leave Troy, saying "it is only women with no pride in them who leave their husbands." Even in these dire straits, she stands firm. While Troy wallows in self pity at the cruel blow fate has dealt him, Bathsheba tends to Fanny's desolated grave which Troy gives up on so soon. Troy finds it easy to escape his responsibilities but Bathsheba remains at the farm, though her "original vigorous pride of youth" has "sickened" and her feelings are numbed by suffering. her experience has made her a better person, more considerate of others' feelings, quite a contrast from the blunt, rash Bathsheba of earlier in the novel. The "severe schooling" which she has undergone has "made Bathsheba much more considerate than she had formerly been of the feelings of others." Her compassion shines through as she stops herself burning the lock of Fanny's hair, instead keeping it in pity of her.
Bathsheba is completely disillusioned with love, saying "love is an utterly bygone, sorry, worn out, miserable thing with me," which is a dramatic change of only a short time ago when she was totally innocent of it, "of love subjectively Bathsheba knew nothing." When Boldwood flatters her at his party, she is no longer susceptible to it as she has lost her vanity and her desire to be complimented, and she cares little what happens to her. He browbeats her into accepting his proposal, and she, her will almost utterly broken, is "fairly beaten into non resistance," and "shaking with the occasional sob" whispers hopelessly "very well then." Though she cares little for herself, Bathsheba is sensitive of how much her answer means to Boldwood, and the fact that she fears for his very sanity influences her.
Bathsheba's behaviour after the shock of Troy's return and Boldwood's shooting Troy is surprising. Considering all she has been through, she is remarkably strong, yet another example of contradiction in her. Somehow the disaster shakes her to her senses and while the rest of the household are "aghast" and "bewildered", Bathsheba "was astonishing all around her now." Hardy informs us that "she was the stuff of which great men's mothers are made" which is one of the most infuriatingly chauvinistic comments in the entire novel. Clearly Hardy feels that to be a great man's mother is far more worthy a purpose for a woman than simply to be a great woman in her own right. Bathsheba copes incredibly well with the body and the surgeon exclaims, "this mere girl! she must have the nerve of a stoic!" but at this point he is contradicted by Bathsheba who promptly sinks to the ground, "a shapeless heap of drapery on the floor." It is typical of Hardy that he cannot let his heroine simply be brave, he has to have her collapse upon the floor when the men arrive.
Liddy accurately sums up the change in Bathsheba, "Her eyes are so miserable that she's not the same woman. Only two years ago she was a romping girl and now she's this." Bathsheba withdraws and shuns everyone and she is so different from the carefree, naive Bathsheba of two years before as to be completely unrecognisable. She shows great kindness in burying Troy with Fanny and erecting a stone for him; I think she has no more bitterness left in her for them. Bathsheba "did not laugh readily now" as she has been truly tamed and subdued. It is only when Oak intends to leave that Bathsheba finally comes to appreciate his full worth. In a display of her usual contrariness, it is only when she realises what she would lose if Oak left that she realises how she feels. Typical of Hardy, it is only through an action of Oak's that she comes to realise this, not through her own intelligence. Also typical of Hardy, she could not simply overcome her pain alone, there had to be Oak there the whole time, watching over and helping her, and in the end, everything is basically solved by their love and marriage.
On the whole I admire Bathsheba's character and I can accept the faults Hardy gives her, because they make her more real. However, what I find hard to accept is that Hardy claims most of her good points are rare in most women, and that in general her bad points are those possessed by all women. For every good attribute Hardy bestows upon his heroine, he also gives her some silly, weak or petty failing, most of which he claims are exclusive to women. Every independent word or deed of Bathsheba's is balanced out by another that is weak, desperate or needy. I dislike the fact that while the men in Bathsheba's life have clear cut bad points - Troy is the villain and Boldwood is the madman - Bathsheba as the woman has to be one with the petty little imperfections. I liked this novel, but it would have irked me a deal less had it lacked a good many of Thomas Hardy's cynical and chauvinistic comments.
